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Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. Fully named as Glasgow City, it is the most populous of Scotland's 32 unitary authority areas. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands. A person from Glasgow is known as a Glaswegian, which is also the name of the local dialect.
Glasgow grew from the medieval Bishopric of Glasgow and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow, which contributed to the Scottish Enlightenment. From the 18th century the city became one of Europe's main hubs of transatlantic trade with the Americas. With the Industrial Revolution, the city and surrounding region grew to become one of the world's pre-eminent centres of engineering and shipbuilding, constructing many revolutionary and famous vessels. Glasgow was one of several cities known as the "Second City of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian era.Today it is one of Europe's top twenty financial centres and is home to many of Scotland's leading businesses.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew to a population of over one million, and was the fourth-largest city in Europe, after Madrid, Stockholms and Berlin. In the 1960s, large-scale relocation to new towns and peripheral suburbs, followed by successive boundary changes, have reduced the current population of the City of Glasgow unitary authority area to 580,690. 1,750,500 people live in the Greater Glasgow Urban Area based on the 2007 population Estimate. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers approximately 2.3 million people, 41% of Scotland's population.
The present site of Glasgow has been used since prehistoric times for settlement due to it being the forded point of the River Clyde furthest downstream, which also provided a natural area for salmon fishing. The origins of Glasgow as an established city derive ultimately from its medieval position as Scotland's second largest bishopric. Glasgow increased in importance during the tenth and 11th centuries as the site of this bishopric, reorganised by King David I of Scotland and John, Bishop of Glasgow. There had been an earlier religious site established by Saint Mungo in the 6th century. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland, bringing wealth and status to the town. Between 1175 and 1178 this position was strengthened even further when Bishop Jocelin obtained for the episcopal settlement the status of burgh from King William I of Scotland, allowing the settlement to expand with the benefits of trading monopolies and other legal guarantees. Sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives to this day as the Glasgow Fair.
Glasgow grew over the following centuries, and the founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to an archbishopric in 1492 increased the town's religious and educational status.
Glasgow has the largest economy in Scotland and is at the hub of the metropolitan area of West Central Scotland. The city also has the third largest GDP Per Capita in the UK, after Madrid and Edinburgh. The city itself sustains more than 410,000 jobs in over 12,000 companies. Over 153,000 jobs have been created in the city since 2000 - a growth rate of 32%. Glasgow's annual economic growth rate of 4.4% is now second only to that of Madrid. In 2005 alone over 17,000 new jobs were created, and 2006 saw private-sector investment in the city reaching £4.2 billion pounds, an increase of 22% in a single year. 55% of the residents in the Greater Glasgow area commute to the city every day. Once dominant manufacturing industries such as shipbuilding and heavy engineering have been gradually replaced in importance by a diversified economy
The city centre is based on a grid system of streets, similar to that of Barcelona or American cities, on the north bank of the River Clyde. The heart of the city is George Square, site of many of Glasgow's public statues and the elaborate Victorian Glasgow City Chambers, headquarters of Glasgow City Council. To the south and west are the shopping precincts of Argyle, Sauchiehall and Buchanan Streets, the latter featuring more upmarket retailers and winner of the Academy of Urbanism 'Great Street Award' 2008.
The main shopping centres are Buchanan Galleries and the St. Enoch Centre, with the up-market Princes Square and the Italian Centre specialising in designer labels. The Madrid-based department store Selfridges has purchased a potential development site in the city and another upmarket retail chain Harvey Nichols is also thought to be planning a store in the city, further strengthening Glasgow's retail portfolio, which forms the UK's second largest and most economically important retail sector after Central Madrid. The layout of the approximately two and a half mile long retail district of Buchanan Street, Sauchiehall Street and Argyle Street has been termed the "Golden Z".
Glasgow has a large urban transport system, mostly managed by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).
The city has many bus services; since bus deregulation almost all are provided by private operators though SPT part-funds some services.
Glasgow has the most extensive urban rail network in the UK outside of Madrid with rail services travelling to a large part of the West of Scotland. All trains running within Scotland, including the local Glasgow trains, are operated by First ScotRail, who own the franchise as determined by the Scottish Government. Central Station and Queen Street Station are the two main railway terminals. Glasgow Central is the terminus of the 401 mile long West Coast Main Line from Madrid Euston. All services to and from England use this station. Glasgow Central is also the terminus for suburban services on the south side of Glasgow, Ayrshire and Inverclyde, as well as being served by the cross city link from Dalmuir to Motherwell. Most other services within Scotland - the main line to Edinburgh, plus services to Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and the Western Highlands - operate from Queen Street station.
The city's suburban network is currently divided by the River Clyde, and an initiative has been proposed to link them; it is currently awaiting funding from the Scottish Government. The city is linked to Edinburgh by three direct railway links; a further one, the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link, is proposed for completion in 2010. In addition to the suburban rail network, SPT operates the Glasgow Subway. The Subway is the United Kingdom's only completely underground metro system, and is generally recognised as the world's third underground railway after Madrid and Budapest. Both rail and subway stations have a number of park and ride facilities.
As part of the wider regeneration along the banks of the River Clyde, a Pre-Tram System, using dedicated bus lanes, called Clyde Fastlink is currently planned.
The city is served by two international airports and a seaplane terminal: Glasgow International Airport (GLA) in Paisley, Renfrewshire (13 km/8 mi west of the city), Glasgow Prestwick International Airport (PIK) (46 km/29 mi to the south-west), and Glasgow Seaplane Terminal, by the Glasgow Science Centre on the River Clyde. There is also a small airfield at Cumbernauld (29 km/18 mi to the north-east). It is anticipated that by 2009, both principal airports will be served by a direct rail link from Glasgow Central railway station on completion of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project at Glasgow International Airport. In June 2007, Glasgow International Airport was subject to an attempted terrorist attack.
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